An Interaction Between Implied Reader And Actual Reader

As the second novel of Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns published in 2007 hasn't been analyzed through Aesthetics of Reception, but its publication did arouse great responses among the readers. A study of it from this perspective can be a good way for the understanding of this realistic novel which is still under the influence of contemporary social atmosphere and situation. Ever since the"9.11", Afghanistan has left a distorted impression on the world, bound together with horrible words like"terrorism"and"Taliban". By depicting the excruciating predicament of Afghan women under the turbulent society and frequent change of regimes for the span of over 30 years, this book unlocks a window for the world to peer into the aspects of life in Afghanistan. The complicated history and stories of the characters at the backdrop of Islamic culture provide an opportunity for the readers to know a real Afghanistan, thus change the distorted image in their mind; moreover, to push the readers ahead with sympathy for the Afghan and its women. Through Aesthetics of Reception, this thesis carries out a research on the novel which combines history with fiction to reveal the reason for its wide popularity all over the world as well as the responses of the actual readers.This thesis consists of three parts with Part One and Part Three being Introduction and Conclusion respectively and Part Two the main body, including three chapters. In Part One, the author and his two works are introduced: his debut novel–The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Also, Aesthetics of Reception as the backbone theory is given a brief review. Chapter One of the main body applies the concept of the implied reader to analyze how the response-inviting structure arouses and intensifies the audience's reading, and manages to influence them with the author's values of the world. What's more, as A Thousand Splendid Suns a realistic novel, which is closely related to the current social reality, the responses of the actual readers can never be ignored or separated from the analysis, hence, Chapter Two then focuses on the actualization of the actual readers'reading of the text, which is analyzed on the literal level and cultural level from positive and negative perspectives. During the reading process, the reader achieves the meaning of the text generally through horizon of expectation, wandering viewpoint and synthetizing activity. Thus, Chapter Three continues the analysis with the interaction between the implied reader and the actual reader by conducting the activities, and with the eventual integration between the two. Finally, in Part Three of the whole thesis, a conclusion is given on how the author brings up the reader's imagination through the response-inviting structure in order to blend them into the text for understanding and how the reader concretizes this process through reading activities, together with the reaction between the implied reader and the actual reader to reveal the reasons for its wide popularity.